WSU Urban Studies Blog

Dr. Thomas Conroy was a panelist for the  third of a series of quarterly meeting regarding diversity, equity, systems of historical oppression, and solution-based planning practices hosted by the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission . The panel, which discussed implementing inclusive planning practices and their community outreach efforts, included:  Khrystian King , Councilor-at-Large, City of Worcester Dr. Conroy , Chair and Associate Professor or Urban Studies, and Director of CityLab Sheila Cuddy , Executive Director, Quaboag Valley Community Development Corporation Casey Starr , Main South Community Development Corporation Attendees were CMRPC delegates and alternates that attend the meeting will receive an additional hour of Local Planning Assistance (LPA) for their community.

  December 21, 2020 By: Kristen O'Reilly More than a dozen Worcester State students will be serving as trained advocates for local asylum seekers during the spring semester, helping to untangle the complex process intended to give sanctuary to immigrants fleeing from dangerous situations in their home countries. The training they received is a result of a new partnership between Worcester State and the Student Clinic for Immigrant Justice (SCIJ), a Waltham-based non-profit organization. Worcester State is only the second institution to partner with SCIJ, joining Brown University. “This is an amazing opportunity for our undergraduate students interested in immigration law and advocacy to help with real cases in our community, the same way law students might in a law clinic,” says Assistant Professor Adam Saltsman, Ph.D., director of the Urban Action Institute, which is in the Urban Studies Department and hosting the partnership with the clinic. “Statistics show that asylum seekers a

December 8, 2020 By: Kristen O'Reilly S tudents are not empty vessels to receive knowledge, but should be full participants in academic inquiry, according to Timothy Murphy, Ph.D., associate professor in the of Urban Studies, and Syamak Moattari, M.D., D.Phil., associate professor of health sciences. The two winners of the 2019 Alden Excellence in Teaching Award gave a joint talk on Friday, Nov. 13, via Zoom, discussing “Community-Based Participatory Learning and Action.” “Students add so much to the educational process. To see them as mere vessels, to absorb knowledge that you are going to give to them, it assumes they are all identical, that they’re devoid of any meaningful life experiences, and it also suggests they have nothing to contribute to the process,” Murphy said. To be effective teachers, “We must meet students where they are. We have to understand the educational process is one you must engage students, not doing unto their students.” Moattari recounted that while a me